Here’s startup news making headlines at other news sites and blogs around the Web: Google’s report on search engine marketing for sites with top rankings, Canada lags when it comes to using mobile payments, and a new early ventures fund for clean-tech firms.

Many small businesses are now aware of how Google affects their exposure to potential customers. Whether it’s improving search engine optimizaiton to appear in the organic search results, or spending money on advertising, small firms know that a good placement on Google means attracting customer attention. But if you’re already number one on the organic seach list, is there any point to investing in search engine marketing? David Chan, a researcher at Google, says that advertisements are still effective for firms with top rankings. Pamela Parker at Search Engine Land.

Canadians love buying stuff online but are lacking good mobile payment systems to do so, according to the government Task Force for the Payments System Review. Canada is being outpaced by 27 European Union coutnries, “and even Peru and Romania” when it comes to transition to digital payments, the report says. Many tech startups are looking for ways to help improve digital payments in Canada. Scott Simpson at Postmedia News.

Toronto-based business accelerator MaRS launched a $30 million Clean Tech fund yesterday. It has raised $15 million from angel investors and is raising another $15 million from corporate investors. Typical investments will be $500,000 to $1 million in early-stage ventures that have a proven technology ready for commercialization. Mark Evans blog.